ShatteredAvenger t1_j6xp1ew wrote on February 2, 2023 at 5:05 PM

Reply to comment by 69FunnyNumberGuy420 in no late night coffeeshops or places to do work :( by hodown94

I hear your point, but most parks close at dusk, are reliant on weather, require being somewhat nearby, etc. Going the park is not "weird" but it doesn't hit the same itch for a lot of folks as going to hang out somewhere late at night when the rest of the world is quiet. I don't think it's quite as simple as "people don't enjoy their lives unless money is changing hands"- you shouldn't need to pay money to have a good time, but there's also nothing inherently wrong with throwing a couple bucks somewhere.

69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_j6xuu5f wrote on February 2, 2023 at 5:41 PM

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2016/09/14/third-places-as-community-builders/

 
America's traditional Third Places have been completely eradicated in favor of pay-to-access places. That's incredibly bad for American society and fosters alienation.

sprawn t1_j6y5gvp wrote on February 2, 2023 at 6:46 PM

Even during the day the third places that used to be constructed to foster interaction between strangers and community building are being re-designed to shortcut every interaction into a financial exchange.

In this specific instance (24 hour businesses), there were dozens of them in Pittsburgh in the eighties and nineties (and before, serving swing shift steel workers, etc, for real, they actually made steel). The specific case of coffee shops and diners had about eight of them open all night in the nineties. You could truly sit there all night doing your homework, etc... Starbucks killed coffee shops. And the result is still visible today. You cannot interact with strangers at a Starbucks. They have redesigned the coffee business into a fast food model. You go in, order, and GTFO. There may be two or three tables, but people arrive at 6 am and "camp" the tables and guard them jealously. And they are there for the Wifi, not for Magic, the Gathering, or Parcheesi or organizing a community garden. This is during the day.